Rants and Raves on Espresso

San Rafael-based Equator Estate Coffees has long been a major enigma for us. They have heavy distribution among high-end restaurants in town — and quite a few on the low-end. But despite the occasional accolades among tastemaker chefs, we just didn’t “get it.”

Over the years, we sampled the espresso at well over 30 different places serving Equator Estate coffees and purchased some roasts for our home use. We invariably found them to be too tepid in flavor depth, richness or “personality” to make them stand out from the crowd. It was only this year that we finally came across an example of their coffee we truly liked. To this day, it remains the lone exception, and we suspect that some of this has to do with a lack of quality control over their delivery chain (e.g., cafés/restaurants that let their coffee lose flavor and go stale, etc.).

But of course, we’re only one opinion with a taste palate that may radically differ from anyone else’s. For example, we’ve recently come to the conclusion that, pound-for-pound, we somewhat regularly produce better results at home with the coffee from Barefoot Coffee Roasters rather than, say, the celebrated Blue Bottle Coffee — an opinion that may count as blasphemy among so many Blue Bottle loyalists in the city.

4 Responses to “Equator Estate Coffees wins Roast Magazine’s 2010 American Roaster of the Year Award”

I don’t have the public track record on Equator that you do but feel similarly. I’m not quite sure why they continue to garner such praise. My own theory is that they are 1) large enough to have a substantial marketing arm (and to offer a product at the right price) and 2) are just enough better from the ultra-dark roasters that most chefs and other folks are familar with that they seem impressive to most people. In other words, they work as a gateway coffee and have the muscle to really sell well. But these credentials from Roast certainly do seem to indicate that some fairly impressive folks think there is something more deeply impressive about their coffee. I’m perplexed.

“Enigma”.. now we’re intrigued! We are also puzzled: your recent posting eventually acknowledges “But of course we are only one opinion with a taste palate that may radically differ from anyone elses”. Here, as an espresso enthusiast, you are acknowledging a basic tenant of espresso: there are different stylistic preferences. Espresso is not an indicator of quality range (as in the vogue among roasters of using robusta a few years back) but rather of the ability to design for stylistic preference and the competence of the barista. For example, we serve a demographic that overwhelmingly prefers and chooses a milder, dark roasted espresso profile – simply put, we have a full spectrum range of espressos “on the table” for our prospective clients to choose from, and, yes, we retail the ones that sell well. Why not experience our process for yourself by acting as a prospective client? Please accept an invitation to come to our roasting facility and cup our espresso offerings – this will enable you to judge our skill at designing to preference.

Thanks for the offer, Brooke. I think the only way for us to break through this “block” is to take you up on it.

There certainly are a lot of stylistic preferences for espresso. Which, given the fuller spectrum that you certainly roast, makes it particularly odd that we’ve experienced your roasts through over 30 different purveyors and only found one instance that was noteworthy.

If some of our suspicions are correct — i.e., that a lot of quality drop-off in your roasts could happen in the “last mile” of the retail location serving the coffee — bypassing these retailers altogether should hopefully give us a truer representation of your roasts. (Even if it still doesn’t explain the limited examples we’ve had preparing your roasts at home.)